DESIGNS BY NINA:
Scrapping, Cards, Paper Art, Art, Life - It's just what I do best

December 10, 2012

This week over at the Paper Cupcake's Challenge Blog; There's Magic In The Air; which you can find HERE. I will be bringing you the last challenge of the year which is to use a snowman or with a Christmas theme. Paper Cupcakes-Stamps is also offering a really cute snowman image "Little Snow Friend". Of course I used the image. I made a quick and simple card. I paper pieced my hat and scarf on the snowman and then lightly colored him with a blue copic the stars yellow with some stickles on them to make them sparkle. I also used a Paper Cupcakes ticket from the Christmas ticket set. Added my bow and a pretty snowflake and just kept it simple.

Since I am the owner/artist over at Paper Cupcakes-Stamps... after a lot of contemplation over the last six months in regards to my Digital line of Stamps it is with great sorrow to announce that I will no longer continue on with the challenge blog. I have had really mixed feelings for a while now regarding this. I have spent a lot of heart and time pouring myself into designing some original images and I have over 500 in my store (did you know that?). Unfortunately, to be honest I just don't sell enough for it to make sense for me to continue to keep pouring myself into this. I also have had mixed feelings about the freebies I give away, but only a few ever use them to enter any of my challenges to win my images. It can be a little disheartening to have 60 participants enter a challenge, but only very few people will even make any kind of comment or leave a thank you. I am very sorry if this is kind of a downer type posting, but I just wanted to be honest and relay to you what has been on my heart and the reasons for my decision. I have had some incredibleDesigners and Guest Designers over the last 3 years to current who have dedicated not only their talents, but their time to help me showcase my images and I would have loved to see a little more love left on the blog just for them each week as well, because without them I wouldn't have had the challenge blog. Please do not misunderstand my words, I am very grateful for everyone that has played along over the years and especially the ones that took the time to actually use/purchase some of my images as well as leave some luvings along the way; so thank you. Although I am leaving this digital image venture behind, I am going to redirect my art towards a different venture and in that I find excitement and another path of adventure. So, not only is this the last challenge of the year, it is also the last challenge for Paper Cupcakes. I will be leaving the store open until the end of the year and then I believe I will be removing it from the Internet and taking my images out of circulation as digital images and re-directing them in a different type venture.So, thanks for lurking by and if I don't post again for a while, have a Very Merry Christmas and a Safe and Happy New Year!!

November 26, 2012

This week over at the Paper Cupcake's Challenge Blog; There's Magic In The Air; which you can find HERE. Ildiko Cseh brings us our challenge this week and she would like to see some "Sparkle, Sparkle, Sparkle". Well, not sure how much of my "Sparkle" you can actually see on my card, but it is there. I used one of the new releases from Paper Cupcakes called "Snowman Cupcake" and one of the Christmas tickets by Paper Cupcakes. I actually colored this whole image in photo shop which is new to me. I was trying out a tutorial on how to color in layers and although you really can't see much of my coloring it really did turn out well. I also made the paper design you see on the card too. I seen a card something like this with the little windows on pinterest and thought it was a cute idea so I cased it somewhat. The only thing is I messed up on how I did my images. I meant to put the top image in the middle and the middle image at the top. I glued one on and didn't realize I glued them in the wrong spot until it was too late to switch them, so I just left them alone. I added the sparkle with red and icicle stickles on the pattern paper I made to the dots in the middle and red to the ticket. This was really a pretty quick card to make too. I thought it turned out cute, although those mixed up images drive me a little crazy.... oh well.

Well, that is it for me this week, have a great week and thanks for lurking by.

November 12, 2012

This week over at the Paper Cupcake's Challenge Blog; There's Magic In The Air; which you can find HERE. Angie Gittles brings us our challenge this week. Once a month Paper Cupcakes-Stamps gives a freebie away. Angie wants the participants to actually use the freebie this month which is a cute little snowman with a tree.

I decided to start making some things for Christmas and I have been saving these potato chip containers that are kind of like a Pringles container, but they are aren't Pringles. I thought they would make a great container to add long pretzels dipped in chocolate for the holidays. I think they will hold about six with the chocolate on. I thought it would be a nice little gift to send in for a teacher or a nice little surprise to set on a desk for a secretary at school. This is my first one I have made and I thought it turned out super cute.

The container is that royal blue so I had this lovely wrapping paper that I still had a scrap of and used it. I painted the yellow lid pink with some paint and let it dry and then I took some pink tulle and wrapped 3 different layers around the lid to cover it all and just tied knots so I would have a cute plume at the top. I tied some light blue ribbon at the top around the bottom of that plume and then added my tag/sentiment and then the little snowflake on the of my ribbon bow. For the base which was kept simple I just wrapped the paper around the container and then added my punched boarder, my image and then the snow flakes. I colored my image with my Bic Mark-its and then added some Stickles for a little sparkle. I liked how this turned out the only thing I don't like is that I have to buy and eat potato chips to get the containers!

Well, that's it for me this week hope you will join in the challenge. I can't believe that Thanksgiving is just two weeks away for us in the US. I got all my outdoor stuff put away in the shed yesterday, even though I wasn't feeling so good. I was pushing my luck with the warmer weather and thought I best get-er-done. My husband helped and we got it completed pretty quickly and it's a good thing, because today as I am here typing this getting this ready for the posting later today it is snowing!!! It is not sticking and it is pretty, but please I am not ready for the snow at all! Well, have a great week and thanks for lurking by!

October 29, 2012

This week over at the Paper Cupcake's Challenge Blog; There's Magic In The Air; which you can find HERE. Shirley Quarry brings us our challenge this week. With October being Breast Cancer Awareness month and the color for that is Pink; Shirley would like to see us make a card or project that supports that by using the color pink as our main color (75% of your card/project should be Pink). If your card/project reflects cancer awareness by a cancer ribbon of some kind or you can look at the card/project and you can tell this is going to be sent to someone battling breast cancer by the sentiment or image, Paper Cupcakes will place your name in the drawing twice for a chance to win this week.

I used the image "Breast Cancer Cupcake" by Paper Cupcakes. It is on sale for the next 48 hours. I colored my image with colored pencils and added some stickles to the icing. I wanted the image to be the focus so I kept this clean and simple. The flower on this cupcake is an apple blossom. It stands for hope and good things to come.

I always think my cards look so much better in real life. The stickles is always so much prettier, as well as the rhinestones. I am also going to add this to one of the breast cancer challenges over at SCS.

It's turned cold here this week after having some 70 degree days last week. No wonder everyone is walking around with colds and the yucks. I hope everyone along the East Coast stays safe from the storms and are wise and stay away from the incoming waters. So, thanks for stopping by this week and I hope you will join in the challenge over at There's Magic In The Air with Paper Cupcakes!

October 15, 2012

This week over at the Paper Cupcake's Challenge Blog; There's Magic In The Air; which you can find HERE. Danie May brings us our challenge this week. She would like to see us make a card/project using the colors "Orange and Purple" as your two main colors. You can use other colors with this, but 75% of you color scheme should be tones of orange and purple. This does not have to be a Halloween card either.

Paper Cupcakes is also offering this freebie "What Characters" until Wednesday, so make sure you stop by and snag it and play along too!

I colored my image with Bic Mark-its and then colored the sky with my soft chalks and then I also spray it with hairspray to set it. I love how the chalks make such a soft sky and they were perfect for this evening sky. The sentiment comes with the image as well.

I made my image fairly large so it would be the main attraction for the card and kept it pretty clean & simply and try to keep it flat to make for easy mailing too.

Well, I liked how it turned out. I think it is pretty cute, but I think it is the image that is cute and funny. Things are hectic here in the May household, but then again I it always seems that way. I certainly could use another beach holiday!! Thanks for stopping by and lurking I always love company! Have a great day!

October 1, 2012

This week over at the Paper Cupcake's Challenge Blog; There's Magic In The Air; which you can find HERE. I bring the challenge to us this week. Since this is the first day of October and fall is once again upon us we are going to do an "Anything Fall" challenge. This open ended for the creativity as long as it is fall themed. I used the image "Gnome on Pumpkin" from Paper Cupcakes. This little image just looks like the gnome is greeting Autumn's arrival and it certainly looks magical! I colored my image with my Bic Mark-its and kept it pretty clean and simple.

Well, as much as I do love the fall, I still love summer more!! I am not ready for winter to be upon us soon and in reality that is what follows fall! So, I will just embrace today and enjoy the colors that are starting to show their face on the trees. Have a great week and a first day of October Magic!

September 17, 2012

This week over at the Paper Cupcake's Challenge Blog; There's Magic In The Air; which you can find HERE. Kathy Bradly brings us a recipe challenge this week. She wants us to mix up some fun with using the below recipe to make a card/project. You can add to the recipe, but you cannot take an ingredient away from it.

Recipe:
- 1 Embossing Folder or dry embossing of some sort
- 1 or more die or punch
- 1 ribbon, twine, string or something of the like
- 1 button
- Use glitter or some sort of sparklies

September 3, 2012

This week over at the Paper Cupcake's Challenge Blog; There's Magic In The Air; which you can find HERE. Danie May brings us our challenge in which she would like to see us use something with wings on your card/project. It can be something winged in the main image or an embellishment. ie. Fairy, Butterfly, Bird etc. Just as long as there is something winged in your image or on your card.

I made 2 quick cards and thought these cute little bats would certainly fit the "winged" challenge:

The first one I used the image by Paper Cupcakes "Frightfully Cute" with the "Halloween Tickets" by Paper Cupcakes. I used my colored pencils to color the image and added some stickles to the image and the paper on the candy corn.

On the second card I used "Just A Little Corny and the Halloween Tickets" by Paper Cupcakes too. I also used colored pencils on this image and added some stickles on the yellow part of the candy corn.

Kept both cards pretty simple and used the same colors. Halloween will be upon us before we know it and now I have two cards already made. I guess I should be working on Christmas ones too!

Tuesday is Avery's 9th birthday. He has grown up so fast, but if you have children I don't have to tell you about that. I took these pictures last month when I was messing around with my camera settings and made him pose for me. Millie decided to jump in and be part of the pictures too. She doesn't like to be left out I guess. I just loved these two pictures below; especially the second one.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AVERY! You are such a delightful child.

ALSO: Just as a reminder that Paper Makeup Stamps and Party Time Tuesdays Challenge blogs are co-hosting a hop in honor of Jen Scull, who is battling cancer. Jen was also a DT member for Paper Cupcakes last year.

I didn't know about the hop until it was too late to join in, so I still purchased the stamp set and made a card in honor of the hop, because I so wanted to be a part of it and support Jennifer. I also sponsored one of the prizes along with many other companies and friends of Jennifers. So you should check it out if you haven't already. The blog hop is already half way through and was scheduled to start at 12:00AM Eastern time on August 29th and will run till 11:59 pm on Tuesday September 4.

You will see a digi set that was created just for Jen. ALL proceeds of this set will go directly to Jen's family. Included are 2 images and 3 word art digis. Illustrations by Diem Pascarella, word art arrangement by Katie Cotton. If you would like to purchase the set and help donate to a good cause you can find the stamp setHEREto purchase.

So, won't you hop for a great cause and join us? Here is the card I made using the stamp set:

I thought that this was interesting that the image fit our challenge this week too!

Again, you can find the beginning of the hop at Paper Makeup Stamps HERE

August 28, 2012

Hi Everyone, just a quick posting to let you know that Paper Makeup Stamps and Party Time Tuesdays Challenge blogs are co-hosting a hop in honor of Jen Scull, who is battling cancer. Jen was also a DT member for Paper Cupcakes last year.

The blog hop is scheduled to start at 12:00AM Eastern time August 29th and will run till 11:59 pm on Tuesday September 4.

There are going to be prizes along the way and Paper Cupcakes will be giving away 5 images each to 3 individuals. All winners will be posted to the Paper Makeup Blog and Party Time Tuesday Blog on Friday September 7th.

You will see a digi set that was created just for Jen Scull, battling cancer. ALL proceeds of this set will go directly to Jen's family. Included are 2 images and 3 word art digis. Illustrations by Diem Pascarella, word art arrangement by Katie Cotton. If you would like to purchase the set and help donate to a good cause you can find the set HERE to purchase.

I will be participating, but I will post the hop posting on the Paper Cupcakes challenge blog since Jen was on our DT last year and that blog tends to get more traffic! So, won't you join us?

August 20, 2012

This week over at the Paper Cupcake's Challenge Blog; There's Magic In The Air; which you can find HERE. Gloria Westerman brings us our challenge in which she would like everyone so "Just Say Hello". So, another wards make a card/project to a new teacher, neighbor, friend...etc. anybody you want to just say hello to..... So that is exactly what I did using the freebie this week by Paper Cupcakes. The image is called "Greetings" and will only be available for free for 48 hours, so make sure you stop by and grab this cute image and play along with the challenge!

I colored my image with Bic Mark-its and used some Stickles to add a little bling to my caterpillar. Kept it pretty simple and used all scrap paper for this card except the base of course. Well, if you stop by make sure you "just say hi, howdy or hello" and let me know you stopped by. I always love to hear from you. In the meantime, make it a joyful day!

August 7, 2012

Well, here we are at the beginning of another week. We lost our power for 2 days and just got it back on last night. Needless to say we are a spoiled society and we take so much for granted. It is good to be back to the norm. We borrowed a generator from my parents and since we didn't have air we had a fan going in the front room. Avery and I slept on the floor Sunday night and remind me the next time that I am too old to sleep on the floor without any kind of air mattress!! Although he was so cute and kept telling me how much fun he had, so I guess a little bit of soreness was all worth it! Running a little behind because of no access to the Internet, but here is the challenge for this week for Paper Cupcakes. Angie Gittles brings us the challenge this week and she wanted us to use a doily. I don't use them much on cards, but I do love the look of them on cards. I just don't think to go there. I ran out to the dollar store and picked up a package. I really wanted a smaller one, but they only had the larger ones so I picked out an 8 inch package. I let the doily pretty much cover the whole background of my card.

I used the "Teddy bear Sunday" image three times and colored it like a neapolitan ice cream adding the light green rhinestones also made me think of some yummy spumoni ice cream. I keep this card really clean and simple. I colored my image with my colored pencils and added some glossy accents on the syrup on the bears as well as the cherries and then once dry I added some stickles on the cherries, but that is hard to see in these pics. I added the pretty red ribbon and bow to set it all off.

You can find the challenge at the Paper Cupcake's Challenge Blog; There's Magic In The Air HERE.

With everything so dry and with the drought in Indiana everything is drying and dying so early and things are going to seed quickly. That is the case with my cone flowers this year. I have not been watering a lot since everything was close to dead when I got back from vacation. Anyway.... since my cone flowers are going to seed they have been attracting the goldfinches to my cone flowers. So I decided to sit not far from where I kept seeing them land and attempted to get some pictures of them so I could do a few watercolors of them. Here are a few pictures I got that I thought where pretty good pictures.

In the picture below this little birdie was singing.... it's song was so beautiful and lovely to watch.

In this picture below he is looking right at me.

Have a beautiful day and make sure you take time to see the beautiful things that are all around you in the small things we tend to take for granted sometimes. These goldfinches were just that. They brought a lot of joy to my day and it felt good to sit in the sun and capture part of this beauty in still to enjoy and to maybe paint at a later date. Thanks for lurking by and seize the day with some joy!

July 23, 2012

"Waste Not" is the name of the game. This week Shirley Quarry brings us our challenge and she would love to see us make a card or project with something you have recycled. It can be a coke tab, recycled game piece, tag, etc.. be creative and have fun!

I chose the image "Dancing Bear with Ribbons" by Paper Cupcakes. I colored the image with Bic Mark-its. The recycled item that I used is the charm piece hanging from the flower in the bottom right corner. It was actually part of an earring that one of my daughters tossed out. There were three charms on each earring and I took that one off and used it like a charm. This was a pretty simple and easy card.

Had a great week away this past week in the sand and sun. The below picture was the first night on the beach. This rainbow was the most vibrant rainbow I have ever seen and it was completely full from side to side and at times you could see a double rainbow very faintly.

July 9, 2012

This week I present you with two sketches so you have a choice. Pick one of the sketches found at Paper Cupcake's Challenge Blog; There's Magic In The Air and then use it. You can flip it, rotate it or stretch it, just as long as you can still see the original sketch on your card.

The image "Margarita Cupcake" is a freebie for 48 hours and after that you can find it in the store. So, make sure you stop by and snag it and while you'll there why don't you show a little appreciation for the freebie and play along with the challenge as well. I colored my image with colored pencils and colored the cupcake holder to match my ribbon. Went with summery bright colors and added some stickles to the icing and lime. Then added a cute little flower and some rhinestones. It was a pretty quick card since I was following a sketch, which is why I love sketches.

Well, the heat is about to kill me over here, today was a whopping 106 and our air is having a hard time keeping up with the outside. With our air on and fans going in some of the rooms we still have 84 degrees in our home!! Although I still will take this over a cold winter. Well, that is it for me today. Going to keep this simple and short. I have a busy next few days and then I am off to escape on a little rendezvous with Eric. So, thanks for lurking by and have a joyful week!

June 25, 2012

This week Carroll Davis brings us our challenge and since summer time is party time, she wanted us to make an invitation to any type of party. It could be a barbecue, cocktail party, baby or wedding shower, birthday party (child or adult), pool party or just a get together to have FUN!

I chose the image "July Celebration; with flag" by Paper Cupcakes. I have never seen this image colored in before, so I wanted to use it. I think this was perfect for a July celebration. I colored the image with colored pencils and used a light blue copic around the edges of the image. I made a triple tier slider card which you can find the instructions HERE. It really is not too hard. I have made this type card only one other time and once you make it the first time, it is fairly easy the next. I love how it slides open. I decided to keep this element free for the most part to keep it as flat as possible thinking you would most likely mail this type of invite. Although this is a mock invitation and I could have bulked it up, but decided not to. We really are not having a BBQ on the 4th! So, don't be disappointed if you aren't invited; no one really is!

Well, that is it for me for today in regards to card making. Today and yesterday have been frustrating days. Went to a baby shower and when I arrived back home to work on my blog postings for the main blog my computer sent up all the bells and whistles for warnings and virus and telling me if I go any further I could crash my computer and so on. I couldn't access anything and luckily a kind hearted friend took my computer and fixed it, but it took hours and I got it back late last night. Then this morning I couldn't unzip things and had to call him to find I had to do a few little things, no biggie really, but then I went to blow dry my hair after my shower and blew a fuse to half the house. And of course the half that had my internet service and my computer. So, I started to string extension cords and finally got my internet back so I could work on this and then I realized my frig/freezer was off in the garage, Well, it's been in the 90's so I didn't want that to stay off. So, I called my neighbor to come look at our fuse box. Now, I can flip some switches when it comes to this, I do know what to do, but the fuses where hanging out of the box when I flipped them over so I was scared to touch them as being horrified I would be electrocuted! So, Carl came over and guess what, he shut down all the power! Which meant I had to get my internet all back on. I think my wireless box is on it's way out so I had to wiggle things and hold my head just right to get it to work today. Needless to say it took hours which turned into all day. I was stressed and then my daughter told me at 5:40 she had to be to play practice at 6:00 which is a good 1/2 hour away and my postings were not completed. :o( I know... it really all could have been way worst and it really is small matter in the big picture of things, but I am telling you, I was stressed and still am! Here it is 11:30 and I am working on a post that should have posted at 6:00.

Moral of the story is: don't procrastinate!!! Because when you do, you usually end up with a day like this!

Well on the up side, I am thinking that tomorrow will be much better, yes it will!!

Great Attitude & Gratitude

Scrap Honest

Digi Stamps

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